Series /
The People's Court

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What you are about to witness is real. The participants are not actors. They are the actual people who have already either filed suit or been served a summons to appear in a California (or New York Metropolitan) Municipal Court. Both parties in the suit have agreed to dismiss their court cases and have their disputes settled here, in our forum.

— Opening narrationCurrent version "...They are actual litigants with a case pending in civil court. Both parties have agreed to drop their claims, and have their cases settled here, before Judge Marilyn Milian..."

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The Ur-Example of the judge talk show, The People's Court had its pilot episode taped in October 1980 and premiered on September 14, 1981 when Judge Joseph Wapner took the court to the TV. The premise is that two parties, a plaintiff and a defendant, that would otherwise take their cases to small claims court would instead agree to have their case settled on television by Judge Wapner. After the verdict was given, each side would be interviewed by host and court reporter Doug Llewelyn, who would often end the show with the Catch-Phrase "Don't take the law into your own hands: you take 'em to court." On the other hand, if a case ended with a verdict for the defendant, Llewelyn would instead end the episode by saying "If someone files a lawsuit against you and yet you're convinced you've done nothing wrong, don't be intimidated. Just be sure to stand up for your rights: go to court." The show's other two regulars were bailiff Rusty Burrell and announcer Jack Harrell. The show was created by John Masterson, who previously created and executive produced Queen for a Day. It was executive produced by Ralph Edwards, who previously created, executive produced, and hosted Truth or Consequences, and his production partner, Stu Billett. Both men packaged the show under their own separate eponymous production companies, Ralph Edwards Productions and Stu Billett Productions, until 1987, when the companies merged. The show was originally distributed by Telepictures until 1986, when that company merged with Lorimar, creating Lorimar-Telepictures. Lorimar-Telepictures continued to distribute until 1989, when it was purchased by Warner Bros., who continued to distribute until the show's cancellation in 1993.

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After Judge Judy started the judge show revival in 1996, one of the first shows on the block was a revival of The People's Court, which premiered in 1997. Once again, the show was produced by Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions and distributed by Warner Bros.. Former New York City mayor Ed Koch initially took the bench for the first two years, then was replaced by Jerry Sheindlin (husband of Judge Judy). He was replaced by Marilyn Milian in 2001, who presides over the court today. The bailiff during the Koch-Sheindlin years was Josephine Ann Longobardi. After Milian took the bench, she was replaced by Davy Jones, who only lasted relatively briefly and was in turn replaced by Douglas MacIntosh. Curt Chaplin took over the interview duties and became the new announcer, while host Harvey Levin, who worked on the Wapner version as the show's legal consultant, explains the legalese behind the judges' decisions while polling fans gathered outdoors. In 2016, as part of the show's 35th Anniversary, Doug Llewelyn returned as interviewer. Curt Chaplin, however, is still remaining with the program as the show's announcer.

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The original is best known nowadays for being the favorite program of Raymond Babbit.

This show provides examples of:

Berserk Button: While Judge Milian is generally nicer and less abrasive than her rival Judge Judy, it seems to take less to trigger Judge Milian's Berserk Button than it does Judge Judy's. Particularly, she'll get upset when she senses that a litigant is lying, and has said that she is personally offended by liars in court because she feels that they are underestimating her.

Judge Milian: [in one early case] GOD, do I hate being underestimated! It is SO insulting! It is so - he [the defendant] thinks... [makes a paper airplane out of defendant's faked evidence and throws it as audience laughs] ...that I have absolutely NO brains in my head!

While Judge Milian doesn't have nearly as many Berserk Buttons as Judge Judy in regard to the way litigants speak and present themselves, she hates it when litigants call her "Miss" instead of "Judge" or "Your Honor."

Judge Milian: If I were a male judge, you wouldn't call me "buddy," would you? So please call me "Judge" and not "Miss."

In a case aired 02/08/2018, the plaintiff was suing her ex-girlfriend's daughter and daughter's fiancee for past due rent, among other things. When the plaintiff kept trying to interject during Judge Milian's ruling and the judge ordered her to be quiet, the plaintiff accused the judge of homophobia. Judge Milian overheard this comment and tore into the plaintiff while throwing her out of court and ultimately dismissing her case.

Plaintiff: It's a sexuality thing.

Judge Milian: No, it's NOT. And I resent that! And you know what? Get out of my courtroom. Get out. I resent that, not only because I have family members who would be very offended by what you just said. Get out of here and stop playing victim.

Can't Get Away with Nuthin': As mentioned below, whenever litigants forget that Judge Milian is fluent in Spanish and try to curse her out or make snide comments thinking she can't understand. In addition, on one occasion, a defendant's witness openly threatened the plaintiff in court in Spanish, yelling that she was going to bust the plaintiff's face in. Of course, Her Honor caught this and admonished the witness right away.

As with Judge Judy, there have also been some instances in which Judge Milian has announced to a litigant who has gotten away with some wrongdoing that she would be referring the case to local law enforcement after the fact.

Also as with Judge Judy, one of said cases involved an Ebay scammer - the twist being that the scammer was a 16-year-old boy. The judge told him just before ruling against him, "If I were you I'd be waiting for the knock on the door, pal, because you are going to GET IT." The boy's mother subsequently fled the courtroom in tears, refusing to stop to talk to the court reporter (Curt Chaplin).

Doug Llewelyn closing out each episode, "Don't take the law into your own hands. Take them to court."note This catch phrase is no longer used in the current version, although former court reporter Curt Chaplin used a variation of it in promos during commercial breaks inviting litigants to bring their cases on the show.

Judge Wapner, when greeting the litigants: "I know you've all been sworn and I have read your complaint."

Harvey Levin, after explaining the summary of the reason behind the verdict: "And that will do it for this case; litigants for the next case on their way into the courtroom right now."

"We have a name for people like you. We call them litigants."note Judge Milian utters this with litigants who didn't make sure to do what was necessary to not have to resolve the issue in court - for example, failing to preserve a contract in writing. She often notes that all that is necessary to create a written contract is a crayon and a roll of toilet paper.

Various Spanish sayings part of Her Honor's Cuban-American heritage, as noted below.

"Who am I gonna believe, you or my lying eyes?"

"I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized."

"NOT here! NOT today! And NOT in my courtroom!"

"You need to come to court with more than your flapping gums."note Said whenever a litigant comes to court without the necessary evidence, meaning that the litigant can't expect the judge to take his or her word for it.

"You're trying to ching, ching, let that cash register ring."note Said to litigants with inflated claims whom the judge determines to be more interested in a big payday than in being made whole; see Epic Fail for an example.

"If everyone can stop playing 'quien es mas macho', we wouldn't be here."

"Good luck, folks."note Usually Judge Milian's final words after issuing her verdict, her equivalent of Judge Judy's "That's all" or "We're done."

invokedDude, Not Funny!: At least once in the original Wapner version  the case involved some sensitive issues  a small number of observers were chuckling at one of the litigant's answers. Wapner paused and (sternly) told the observers to knock it off or he'd have them escorted out.

In a March 2018 episode, Judge Milian ejected a defendant from the courtroom for laughing during her ruling.

Early Installment Weirdness: In addition to the judge-bailiff turnover, Levin originally had a co-host, Carol Martin, who previously was an anchor at New York City TV station WCBS. Unlike Levin, however, Martin hosted from a studio.

In the original series, the first couple of seasons saw most of the cases being simple arbitrations, with rather bland, dull cases being heard. At least one episode  likely from the fall of 1981  uploaded to video sharing websites was a simple dry cleaning dispute. In most of these cases, the litigants simply answered the judge's questions and did not try to interrupt or call the other litigant names, etc. Wapner rarely if ever accused litigants of outright lying, although he would call them on testimony he thought didn't seem to fit the evidence, and he would point out whether the lack of crucial evidence (such as, in one case, a piece of bone found on a pizza) would hurt their case. When the judge delivered his decision, the litigants  except to answer a direct question  simply listened respectfully, and while some of the litigants were understandably disappointed with the outcome, they generally accepted Wapner's decision in good stride or chalked it up as a lesson learned.

Epic Fail / Too Dumb to Live: For one Wapner-era plaintiff. Said plaintiff sued a store owner for $5000. The reason? The plaintiff had bought a candy bar from the defendant's store, took a bite, and found maggots inside. The store owner had offered to either refund the plaintiff's money or replace the candy bar, but the indignant plaintiff insisted that the store would be hearing from his lawyer, because the store had sold him a product that could have made him sick. Wapner got the plaintiff to testify that he ultimately did not consume any of the candy bar and, therefore, did not become sick. Still, the plaintiff kept insisting that the store owner was to be held accountable for the tainted candy bar and practically accused the man of willfully trying to poison him and other people. Wapner did find for the plaintiff... in the amount of 50 cents, the cost of the candy bar.

This, to date, is the smallest award ever paid out in show history. Though the store owner technically lost, he understandably felt vindicated by the ruling.

Judge Milian had a similar case years later involving a woman who sued a restaurant for $5,000 in emotional distress after finding a small rock in her salad. This time, the plaintiff's case was completely dismissed.

And any time someone makes a rude comment in Spanish, thinking that Judge Milian won't understand them.

Everything Is Racist: Circa 2003, an elderly couple sued for alleged damage to their awning by a bottle rocket, charging their neighbors with anti-Semitism and claiming they had done it on purpose. It turned out that the plaintiffs had a track record of making baseless claims of anti-Semitism against neighbors - they had called the police on the defendants no fewer than 58 times, and had done the same in previous neighborhoods, alleging anti-Semitism with each call. The defendants had filed a counterclaim for one dollar, which was more about sending a message than anything else. Judge Milian skewered the plaintiffs for filing a frivolous complaint and for taking her time and attention away from legitimate cases, before dismissing their case and ruling for the defendant for double the amount he'd sued for - $2.

Judge Milian: You said in your complaint and in your testimony, "They hate us because we're Jewish," and I take very seriously someone playing the race card in my courtroom! ... IT UPSETS ME! Because I AM NOT SPORT! I AM BUSY! I have real cases with people who have real problems!

Gratuitous Spanish: Judge Milian is Latina, and often offers dichos (sayings or proverbs) from her Cuban-America heritage as part of her cross-examinations.

"Un clavo saca el otro clavo." ("One nail drives out the other.")

"Lo barato sale caro." ("The cheap becomes expensive.")

"Me pica que, me rasca aqui." ("It itches me here but you scratch me there." Said to a litigant who is not answering the judge's question directly.)

"Toma chocolate, paga lo que debes." ("If you order a hot chocolate, pay for it." In other words, if you received a service, you pay for it. Judge Milian's equivalent of Judge Judy's "You ate the steak.")

"Mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo." ("The devil knows more from being old than from being the devil.")

October 15, 2007: A University of Miami law student says her ruling is "your opinion". Milian goes postal.

Judge Milian: No, that's my RULING, pal. And let me tell you something, Mr. University of Miami Law School! I taught at U-M for many years, and you, right now, are embarrassing us. You do not show that kind of disrespect, okay? If you don't like what the judge is doing, you take it to the next forum, but you do NOT stand there and say "That's your opinion" like a BABY, when a judge rules against  DON'T EVEN UTTER ANOTHER WORD!!  ... You've got a lot to learn about what it means to be a member of the Florida Bar, and if you think that this kind of petulance and babyness on your part, to tell around and tell a judge who you disagree with "WELL, THAT'S YOUR OPINION!" is going to get you anywhere, you are sorely mistaken. If there's nothing you should have learned in the last two years as a law student, that's something you should have learned as a human growing up, that you do not show that kind of disrespect. You don't like it, take it to the hallway, but you do not look a judge in the face  because, I don't care what you think of me, you've gotta RESPECT THIS PROCESS! And if there's anybody who I expect to respect this process, it's a second-year law student at the University of Miami. Verdict for the plaintiff, $450 and court costs.

Judge Milian: But I believe the one person I know who's escalating the shenanigans is you, because you're crazy! If you think that a court of law is going to entertain for 5 seconds that an Essence magazine that you loaned in November is going to net you a thousand dollars of profit, then you are crazy and you don't understand what the court system is about! It is not for your personal recreation! CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES IS NOT FOR YOUR PERSONAL RECREATION! THOSE PEOPLE HAVE REAL WORK TO DO! Okay? There's real families in crisis and distress, and your little, personal, petty, crazy, vendettas are not the subject of judge's lives! Get out of my courtroom, but not before you pay her $2000 in damages for making a malicious child services report!

Compared to the current version and its contemporaries (particularly Judge Judy), Judge Wapner from the original series rarely did this  almost never in the first few seasons, but it became somewhat more common (although still comparably rare) by the late 1980s. But it was a sight to see when he got pissed  and when he did, Wapner didn't hold back. One example was from 1987, when Wapner had an obnoxious plaintiff suing for damage to his car. The Plaintiff acted very poorly, bringing a crying baby into the courtroom, and tried to manipulate the proceedings making the judge look like the bad guy, Wapner's usual patience quickly wore thin, and he was not shy about calling him out on his bad attitude, stopping just short of throwing him out. The plaintiff went on to actually win his case, but not without Wapner making it clear he only won because the law was on his side, and not because of the way he acted, (and that Wapner would never handle a case for him again). However, the plaintiff had clearly learned nothing, and strutted around the courtroom taunting the defendant.

Take That!: One of Judge Milian's early cases involved an elderly woman suing a hair salon for pain and suffering over a botched hair extension job. In her testimony, the plaintiff described being in pain while hearing Judge Joe Brown playing on television in the background.

Tearjerker: The case aired February 28, 2018, may be one of the saddest and most tragic cases in the series' history. Two parents whose adult son had recently died of a drug overdose were in court over a dispute regarding the deceased's ashes - the young man's father claimed that the defendant had not given him half of the ashes as promised. Both parents openly blamed each other for their son's death, the father claiming that the young man had turned to drugs because the mother had made the young man's life miserable, and the mother, who sobbed through her entire testimony, alleging that it was the father who had gotten her son into drugs and even had him sell drugs for him at school. Judge Milian, who visibly had tears in her own eyes while delivering her verdict, tried to deliver words of encouragement, particularly to the defendant, before dismissing the case because the plaintiff's proper legal recourse was to take the case to probate court, not small-claims court, as the litigants' son had died without a will.

When even Lemony Narrator types Curt and Harvey have no bad puns to describe the nature of the story, you know it's a sad case.

The drama continued while the parties were being interviewed by Doug after the verdict, as the plaintiff exposed himself as a world-class Jerkass by taking that moment to mention the defendant's past as a prostitute runaway. Doug himself was appalled at this and scolded the plaintiff for saying that, and apologized to the still-tearful defendant afterward.

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